The festival's theme is Dream Big, reflected in a programme that looks at ambition from several angles: climbing the world's highest mountain, making it in Hollywood, challenging convention and imagining what the future might look like.

ASMALLWORLD will be there from beginning to end, too. As an official partner of ZFF, members have access to three very different moments across the eleven-day festival, beginning with the film that takes this year's theme to its highest possible point.

The opening film is a good indication of the scale ZFF is aiming for this year. Jennifer Peedom's TENZING tells the story of Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary's historic first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953, with Tom Hiddleston playing Hillary and Willem Dafoe as British expedition leader John Hunt. Both actors will be in Zurich with Peedom when the film receives its European premiere on 24 September.

But the story reaches beyond the summit itself. Peedom, who has spent more than two decades working in the Himalayas and on Everest, explores the relationship between ambition, culture and the mountain, shifting some of the focus back towards the Sherpa climber whose name history has not always placed as prominently beside Hillary's.

It is also where ASMALLWORLD's ZFF calendar begins.

A limited number of ASMALLWORLD tickets offer access to the official Zürich Film Festival Opening Night Ceremony and After-Party, beginning with a flying apéritif as the Green Carpet opens at Kongresshaus Zürich before the opening show and European premiere of TENZING.

Once the credits roll, the evening continues with the official After-Party at Kongresshaus Zürich, with two dance floors this year, including, for the first time, Restaurant LUX, and an open bar until 1:00 am.

There is also an After-Party-only option, with Ambassador Keyla hosting pre-drinks beforehand for members who would like to meet before heading to the festival together.

Whether you arrive for the first frame or the first drink, it is a rare opportunity to experience the night on which the entire festival comes to life.

Opening Night is only the beginning of a very strong guest list. Academy Award winner Julianne Moore returns to Zurich with THE DEBUT, Jesse Eisenberg's third feature as director. Moore plays Mona Friedman, a reserved housewife whose minor role in a community theatre production awakens an increasingly consuming devotion to acting. Eisenberg will accompany Moore to Zurich, where she will receive the festival's Golden Icon Award, recognising both her performance and a career spanning more than three decades.

Naomi Watts will also be honoured, receiving a Golden Eye Award alongside the presentation of THE HOUSEWIFE, in which she plays the enigmatic wife of a suspected Nazi.

Then there is WICKER, which may have one of the more unusual premises on this year's programme. Olivia Colman plays an ostracised fisherwoman who asks a basketmaker to build her a husband from wicker. Alexander Skarsgård is the husband. Both will be in Zurich for its European premiere.

Martin McDonagh brings WILD HORSE NINE, starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi, and will receive ZFF's A Tribute To... Award. Richard Linklater will be recognised with a Career Achievement Award, while Leïla Bekhti receives a Golden Eye for her career and her performance in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's VIOLETTE.

There is a homegrown first, too. Zurich-born Luna Wedler will become the first Swiss actress to receive a Golden Eye, in a year when Swiss cinema has its largest presence in ZFF history.

For ASMALLWORLD's second event of the festival, attention turns to another of this year's Gala Premieres, and a story with its own Swiss connection…

Patricia Highsmith knew something about creating unease. In Anton Corbijn's A TALENT FOR MURDER, the celebrated author is imagined in 1995, living a secluded life at her home in Ticino when a young New York publishing executive arrives with a proposition: write one final novel about her most famous creation, Tom Ripley.

Highsmith, played by Helen Mirren, agrees, on one condition. He must help her devise the perfect murder.

What begins as a literary exercise develops into a crime thriller unfolding across several locations, including Switzerland, with Alden Ehrenreich opposite Mirren and Corbijn behind the camera. Its ties to Switzerland make the film a particularly fitting addition to this year's ZFF programme, while Corbijn himself will be in Zurich to present it. 

On 1 October, ASMALLWORLD Members and their guests can experience A TALENT FOR MURDER at its prestigious Gala Premiere at Corso 1, with director Anton Corbijn in attendance.

After the screening, the evening continues at ZFF Frauenbadi, where an exclusive Apéro Riche is reserved for ASMALLWORLD guests. Here, members can continue the evening over complimentary food and drinks in one of Zurich's most distinctive waterside settings. It is quite different from the scale of Opening Night. The appeal lies in being part of one particular premiere: seeing the film with its director in the room, then having somewhere to continue the conversation afterwards.

Every festival needs its final scene. On 3 October, ZFF moves to the Zurich Opera House for Awards Night, when the festival's Golden Eyes are presented and eleven days of screenings, premieres and discoveries culminate in one final celebration.

ASMALLWORLD Members can once again be part of the occasion, with access available to the Closing Night Ceremony and After-Party. Ceremony guests begin with a welcome drink at the Opera House before Awards Night itself, followed by the official After-Party across the Bernhard Theater and Zurich Opera House.

For those joining later, After-Party tickets include an ASMALLWORLD welcome in the private Opera Lounge before the celebrations continue across multiple dance floors. With midnight snacks, drinks and a 4:00 am finish, ZFF does not exactly roll its credits quietly.

There are film festivals where audiences watch from a distance. Zurich's appeal lies in how close everything feels: filmmakers introducing their work in person, international stars crossing the same compact city between screenings, and an audience invited to participate rather than simply observe.

For ASMALLWORLD Members, there are three very different ways to step inside it: witness the festival come to life with TENZING on Opening Night, share an evening of intrigue and conversation around A TALENT FOR MURDER, or raise a final glass as the Golden Eyes are awarded and Zurich celebrates until the early hours.

Three nights, three quite different sides of the festival, and a good reason not to choose just one.